I

Jason hated being the new kid.

He felt awkward and uncomfortable. He wished fervently that he could go back to New York, however he was smart enough to know that was one wish that would never come true. He could never go back. That bridge had completely closed a long time ago.

Jason cursed as he heard the final bell ring. Late on his first day. He was going to make a WONDERFUL first impression.

He squared his shoulders and strode into his first period class, careful to not let his feeling of total embarrassment grace his facial features. He stepped up to the teacher, who, without a word, pointed to the only empty desk, which was in the back, next to a really pretty girl with braided hair.

Taking his seat, he met the eyes of every kid staring at him, who each automatically looked away upon realizing he was watching them. The teacher began to call roll, and Jason tuned her out, choosing instead to doodle in the corner of his notebook. Or at least pretend too. In actuality he was trying to get a better look at the girl next to him. She tried to downplay her beauty, no makeup, and an over sized flannel with short shorts, but it didn't work. He was a little mesmerized.

She glanced in his direction, and frowned.

"Eyes front, soldier."

Jason did as demanded and realized with a sense of panic that the lesson had started. He quickly flipped over to a new page in his notebook and furiously began to write notes. The lesson was on modern medicine, and advancements in psychology. It was interesting stuff, actually, but only Jason, and a blonde girl who was sitting up front seemed to have any interest in what the teacher was saying.

The teacher handed out slips of paper and told them to form groups of three for their first project of the semester. Great. Jason wondered if he could ask to work alone.

"Hey, newbie. Wanna join our group?"

Jason turned around and saw that the pretty girl from earlier and a boy with wild eyes and even crazier hair were sitting together. He didn't see any better options presenting themselves so he pushed his desk up against theirs.

"Hey, I'm Jason."

The girl smiled at him and gave him her hand to shake, "I'm Piper. And this bonehead here is…"

The other boy waved his hand, cutting her off, "Now, now Pipes. I'm a grown man. I can introduce myself," he flexed his muscles, basically doing his best to look cool, but instead coming across as downright ridiculous, "I am Leo Valdez, bad-boy supreme. Mechanic extraordinaire. Just don't ask me to spell anything. I'm no good with that."

Jason had to laugh. This Leo kid was actually kind of funny, even if he looked scrawny and silly, "Am I expected to call you all that? Or can I just call you Leo?"

Leo put on his best The Thinker face, "Well, mi amigo, while I would prefer bad-boy supreme, I suppose you can just call me Leo."

Piper hit him with her notebook, "Would you QUIT with the bad-boy supreme thing already?"

"Not till it catches on."

Piper hit him again, a small smile on her face as he tried to swat her away, "Sorry, he's not exactly the brightest crayon in the box, if you know what I mean."

"Hey! I'm smart! Don't be giving Jason the wrong idea!"

Jason laughed, "I believe you're smart man. Don't worry."

"I wasn't worried. Just mildly concerned."

Piper sighed, "Boys, we have a project to start. Any ideas?"

Jason looked at his paper, "we have to do a project on an event that has happened in the past two years. It can be on any subject, as long as it is local, and related to medical or psychiatric advancements, or failures. Doesn't sound too bad."

"You would think," Leo said, "Except that even though we're in smack dab center of celebrity rehab area, nothing all the interesting has happened in the past two years."

"That's not true," Piper said, "They made some real improvements to the constructions of mental hospitals after that fire last year."

"What fire?" Jason hated being out of the loop, but he was new. That was only to be expected.

"Dude, I can't believe you haven't heard yet. There used to be this mental hospital right up on the mountain behind the school," he pointed to a direction somewhere behind him, "It was super successful, until last year, when it burned to the ground in a freak accident. Killed everyone inside, including the night staff. The police reported that no one made it out alive."

"The police?" if Leo felt the need to make the distinction of the police, then there had to be more to the story, "Was there someone else who reported something different?"

Leo wiggled his fingers, "I'm an excellent hacker. The same night of the accident, a friend of our friend Percy, Bianca, was found dead in her house, tied to the bedposts. Her brother was a patient in the hospital, had been for a year. So it couldn't have been a coincidence. I hacked into the network. Turns out her brother, Nico di Angelo, was the only body that didn't turn up. The police kept it quiet though. Didn't want people getting scared. The people of this town thought all of the patients up there were crazies. Most weren't though, usually they were the typical patients that suffered from anorexia or depression. But this particular kid… well, he killed his mom. Went completely AWOL. When it first happened, word spread fast, and if people thought he was still around, they would panic. So it was better to keep things 'hush hush.'"

Piper nodded, "There are… rumors, though."

"Rumors?" Jason knew they should be working on their project, but he was intrigued. Who knew this place would actually have crazy stories?

Piper leaned in, keeping her voice low, "There are some students… and adults, who think he's, still up there. In the ruins. Leo and I went up there once a couple of months ago, as a dare from Percy. We went in the day time, but still. The place is really creepy. Its super quiet and not much has grown back yet, except grass and weeds. We tried to climb some burnt stairs onto a remaining section of the second floor, but we both thought we saw someone. It was only for a second, but he was really skinny, with really long dark hair, like Bianca used to describe Nico kind of like that to Percy, before she died. So we panicked and ran. Some kids try and go up there at night. Most run back home and never go back. One kid was found dead, strangled, most likely. They never found his killer. So no one goes up there anymore."

Jason could feel the wheels in his brain turning, "but you said that they made advancements because of this fire right?"

Piper nodded, "Mostly structural, and preventative, to ensure it never happens again…. But there was some doctors who used some of the surviving data they got from the surviving, traumatized day staff and doctors to make some new type of anti depressant…" Piper seemed to realize something, "Which is exactly the kind of the thing we would need for our project."

"Now just hold on a minute, guys. This place burned down," Leo was waving his hands, franticly, "We're supposed to interview someone, associated with the event, AND we have to actually go to the place and give firsthand accounts of what we observe. I don't know about you, but I am NOT going back there again."

"I'm sure we can find one of the day shift doctors. Most of them still work in other medical places around here, "Piper said.

"Besides, we don't have any other ideas," Jason pointed out.

Leo looked like he wanted to protest, but stopped with a look from Piper, "Fine. But on one condition."

"Name it," Jason said eagerly.

"I want to you to go there. Tonight. And tell me what you see. If you think it's safe, then we'll do it. But then and only then."

"Leo that's-"

"Unreasonable, Pipes? I don't think so. Every other kid has been up there. It seems only right Jason knows what he's getting into."

"But at night-"

"It's creepier that way. Much more exciting. So what do you say, Jason? Do we have a deal?"

Jason could already feel himself getting excited. The sensible part of him would be to refuse, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. This was the most exciting project he'd done in years. He couldn't pass it up.

"You have yourself a deal, bad-boy supreme."

I've had this fic in my head for a while now, and I thought, what the hell. I'll just write it.

Just so you know, I get all of my knowledge of mental hospitals from movies, the Internet, and this book called One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Nor do I know anything about psychology aside from those sources, and my friends who are taking the class.

Just thought I should warn you.